The Beginning of the End of Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin has become a tyrant, and is destined for a fall. For a long time now, he has shown less and less restraint in pursuing a policy of re-establishing Russia as hegemon over a vast area. He continues to concentrate power in the hands of a few individuals.  He crushes anyone who dares oppose his will.

A pliant Russian Orthodox Church seems more than happy to give him a hand in exchange for Putin’s ever harsher repression of non-Orthodox Christians in the land. Go here for some excellent reporting, courtesy of the New York Times.

In this post, I describe the response Russian Christians might take, and which we might emulate in our own way, if we are believers, in accordance with past precedent. The structure of the response is derivable from the book of Jeremiah. At one point, the prophet Jeremiah advises those in exile to pray for the welfare of the city God deported them to (Jer 29:4-7). At another point, he reports the decision of his God to destroy Babylon, the very place in which the exiles resided, and advises everyone in exile there - not just Judeans - to escape before it’s too late (Jer 51:1-10).

Note to Putin and the Moscow Patriarchate: the persecution of believers has been tried before. To be sure, the Moscow Patriarchate has never shown much willingness to learn from history, so it probably won’t help the Patriarchate to point out that its desire to stamp out ‘heresy’ with the help of Putin is likely to backfire. Persecution doesn’t work in halfway measures. Unless one establishes a true dictatorship over the bodies, minds, and spirits of a populace, it is counter-productive. It is possible, of course, that that is where Russia is headed. If so, Lord have mercy.

For its “sister” church, that of the bishop of Rome, the tactics the Russian Orthodox Church is now pursuing, when tried in the past, backfired. Under Mussolini, the Catholic Church made a deal the Curia apparently thought was worth the hit it would take among Italians who would never forgive it for supporting fascism (in the post-fascist period, the Catholic Church was reduced to a shadow of its former self in terms of credibility among Italians). In exchange for the Catholic Church’s support, Mussolini promised to use the state apparatus to repress non-Catholic Christians. Pentecostals bore the brunt of Mussolini’s repression. But the repression backfired. Thanks to Mussolini, there are Pentecostal congregations in every city and in many villages of the bel paese today.

How so? The policy of Mussolini was to receive information - for example, from Catholic priests – useful for the identification of non-Catholic Christians who disturbed the peace. The most common culprit: a Bible-distributing Pentecostal hootenanny, a shoemaker or whatnot, who then was banished to a town other than that of his original residence.

Wonder of wonders, the hootenanny simply continued to distribute Bibles in the town to which he was banished. It wasn’t long before another underground Pentecostal congregation was born. Then, upon intervention from the police, the shoemaker was off to the next town.

Italian Pentecostals survived and even flourished under a fascist regime. The reasons are clear. First of all, the call to proselytize is not taken lightly by Bible-believing Christians. Secondly, the following piece of Jeremiah’s advice was taken to heart (Jer 29:4-7):

כֹּה אָמַר     יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת     אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל

לְכָל־הַגּוֹלָה     אֲשֶׁר־הִגְלֵיתִי     מִירוּשָׁלִַם בָּבֶלָה

 

בְּנוּ בָתִּים וְשֵׁבוּ     וְנִטְעוּ גַנּוֹת     וְאִכְלוּ אֶת־פִּרְיָן

קְחוּ נָשִׁים    וְהוֹלִידוּ בָּנִים וּבָנוֹת

וּקְחוּ לִבְנֵיכֶם נָשִׁים    וְאֶת־בְּנוֹתֵיכֶם תְּנוּ לַאֲנָשִׁים    וְתֵלַדְנָה בָּנִים וּבָנוֹת

וּרְבוּ־שָׁם     וְאַל־תִּמְעָטוּ

 

וְדִרְשׁוּ אֶת־שְׁלוֹם הָעִיר    אֲשֶׁר הִגְלֵיתִי אֶתְכֶם שָׁמָּה

וְהִתְפַּלְלוּ בַעֲדָהּ אֶל־יְהוָה      כִּי בִשְׁלוֹמָהּ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם שָׁלוֹם

Thus said יהוה of Hosts, the God of Israel:

 

To the entire exiled community

I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon:

 

Build houses, and live in them;

plant gardens,

and eat their produce.

 

Find wives

and produce sons and daughters;

 

find wives for your sons,

and give your daughters in marriage,

and let them produce sons and daughters.

 

Multiply there;

do not decrease.

 

And seek the welfare of the city

I deported you to.

 

Pray to יהוה on its behalf,

for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

 Thirdly, Italian Pentecostals expected Mussolini would receive his just reward, based on passages like the following (Jer 50:33-36) – thus they enjoyed hope in the midst of distress:

כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת

עֲשׁוּקִים בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל     וּבְנֵי־יְהוּדָה יַחְדָּו

וְכָל־שֹׁבֵיהֶם הֶחֱזִיקוּ בָם       מֵאֲנוּ שַׁלְּחָם

גֹּאֲלָם חָזָק        יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת שְׁמוֹ

רִיב יָרִיב אֶת־רִיבָם      לְמַעַן הִרְגִּיעַ אֶת־הָאָרֶץ    וְהִרְגִּיז לְיֹשְׁבֵי בָבֶל

חֶרֶב עַל־כַּשְׂדִּים    נְאֻם־יְהוָה

וְאֶל־יֹשְׁבֵי בָבֶל     וְאֶל־שָׂרֶיהָ וְאֶל־חֲכָמֶיהָ

חֶרֶב אֶל־הַבַּדִּים וְנֹאָלוּ     חֶרֶב אֶל־גִּבּוֹרֶיהָ וָחָתּוּ

Thus said יהוה of Hosts:

 

The people of Israel are oppressed,

and the people of Judah with them.

 

All their captors have held them fast,

refused to let them go.

 

But their Redeemer, he is strong,

יהוה of Hosts is his name.

 

He will defend their cause

giving rest to the earth,

and distress to the inhabitants of Babylon.

 

A sword against the Chaldeans

- Oracle of יהוה –

 

and against the inhabitants of Babylon:

against her officials, and against her wise men.

 

A sword against the prognosticators!

They will seem fools.

 

A sword against her strong men!

They will panic.

 For decades following, in the post-fascist period, Italian Pentecostals voted for the historically anti-fascist parties, the Communists, or the Socialists. That used to bug their North American brethren, who thought that was awful. But the shoemakers knew who their real friends were, and voted accordingly.

Putin is destined for a fall. That’s what he deserves. Of course, tyrants do not always receive their just reward. But the Russian Orthodox Church, I predict, will receive its just reward without fail. That is in accordance with another passage of scripture (Amos 3:1-2):

שִׁמְעוּ אֶת־הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה

אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה

עֲלֵיכֶם בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל

 

עַל כָּל־הַמִּשְׁפָּחָה

אֲשֶׁר הֶעֱלֵיתִי

מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לֵאמֹר

 

רַק אֶתְכֶם יָדַעְתִּי

מִכֹּל מִשְׁפְּחוֹת הָאֲדָמָה

 

עַל־כֵּן אֶפְקֹד עֲלֵיכֶם

אֵת כָּל־עֲוֹנֹתֵיכֶם

Hear this word

יהוה has spoken

about you, O people of Israel –

 

about the entire family

I brought up

from Egypt:

 

You alone I care for

among all the families of the earth.

 

That is why I call you to account

for all your crimes.

 Bibliography

Pentecostal Reactions to Totalitarianism

 Giorgio Peyrot, La circolare Buffarini-Guidi e I Pentecostali. Attuare la Costituzione 26, Rome: Associazione italiana per la libertà della cultura, 1955.

 
Giorgio Rochat, “Le fonti della polizia fascista sulle chiese pentecostali,” Bollettino della Società di Studi Valdesi - Bulletin de la Société d'Histoire Vaudoise 169 (1991) 71-77.

 
Eugenio Stretti, Il Movimento pentecostale. Le Assemblee di Dio in Italia, Torino: Claudiana, 1999.

 
Jean-Daniel Pluss, “European Pentecostal Reactions to Totalitarianism: A Study of Ethical Commitment in the 1930s,” 1999, online here.

 Jeremiah 50-51

 David Reimer, The Oracles against Babylon in Jeremiah 50-51: A Horror among the Nations, San Francisco: Mellen Research University Press, 1993.

Comments

[eclexia]

I appreciated and enjoyed this whole post. The one line that moved me most deeply was this one: "thus they enjoyed hope in the midst of distress". I think that articulates one of the most amazing things, for me, about trusting God. It doesn't make sense (and sometimes I question if I'm just making it all up). But, even when I question, I come back to seeing how very different my life would be, how miserable (misery upon misery, actually), if I didn't know and experience this hard to explain and harder to defend enjoyment of hope in the middle of distress. When I read your post, the Scriptures, and especially that one line, the feeling it stirs in me is the feeling of freedom that doesn't have to be fought for, but is granted and grown in my heart as a gift of the grace of God. Thanks for moving me to happy tears today with these thoughts.

[JohnFH]

Thank you, Eclexia, for taking the time to affirm the content of this post.